Tote box with bumper



A ril 28., 1970 R. J. SEMPLE 3,

TOTE BOX WITH BUMPER Filed Oct. 21, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 If [J [30 UUEEHEE;

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CECCCCECCCCCCCCCC UUUUUUUUUUDDUDUUU UDUUUDUDUUUDUUQUU UUUUUUUUUDUUUUUUU UDUUUUDUUDUDUGUUU UGUQUUDQUGDDBGUQD UUUUUUUDUDUUUUUUU UUUUUUDUUUUUUUUUD UDUUUUDUUUUUDUUUU UUUDUDDUUUUUUUQUD U: I i Z i 2 a Z I Z Z Z 2 L: 2 Z a O United States Patent O 3,508,679 TOTE BOX WITH BUMPER Richard J. Semple, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to MS Industries, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Oct. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 768,992 Int. Cl. B65d 7/42 US. Cl. 22072 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Tote boxes are commonly used to transport workpieces from one location in a manufacturing plant to another on a conveyor. Such conveyor may be a gravity conveyor or a driven conveyor. In many cases the conveyor will run from one floor to a lower floor and in such cases the sloping conveyor is generally in gravity type conveyor. When a tote box starts down such a sloping conveyor, it generally accelerates in speed and thus catches up with and bumps into a preceding box which is back on a level portion of a conveyor. Such repeated collisions between boxes are not only harmful to the boxes themselves but where the articles being transported in the boxes are breakable or fragile articles, the articles themselves are often damaged.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, the present invention provides a tote box which may be of any conventional design and which is provided on those sides or ends which will be leading and trailing as the box moves on a conveyor, with one or more bumpers. While the box may be of any material and the bumper may be of any suitable resilient or springlike material, it is preferred that the box itself and the bumper elements the molded in one piece from a suitable plastic material. Plastic materials are commonly used these days in the manufacture of such boxes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tote box provided with bumpers according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view thereof; and

FIG. 4 is an end elevational view thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A tote box has been illustrated by way of example but the details of construction thereof do not form a part of the present invention and will not be described further than is necessary to an understanding of the present in- Vention. Basically, the tote box comprises side walls and end walls 11 and a bottom 12. The boxes may be provided with tapers in their side and end walls as shown, such that the boxes may nest within each other to conserve storage space when they are not in use.

The bumper members are indicated generally at 13 and in the particular embodiment shown there are two bumper members 13 on each of the end walls 11. It is preferred to provide two such bumper members so that if a pair of boxes should collide in a curved portion of a conveyor, contact between the bumper members is assured. With a single central bumper member it is conceivable that corner members of the boxes could come into contact without intermediary in the bumpers.

3,508,679 Patented Apr. 28, 1970 As pointed out above, the boxes may be of any construction and of any suitable materal. Likewise, the bumper members may be of metal or other suitable material and secured to the boxes during manufacture. It is preferred, however, that the boxes be made of molding in one piece from suitable plastic material and that the bumper elements be molded in the same molding operation.

Coming now to a more detailed description of the bumper members themselves, it will be seen that they comprise generally a flattened sleeve composed of an outer relatively flat convex portion 14 extending from end to end (the ends being indicated at 15). In opposition to the portion 14 are two relatively fiat and oppositely convex portions 16 joined centrally by a sharply concave portion 17. It will be noted preferably that the center of curvature of the sharply concave portion 17 (indicated at 18 in FIG. 3) lies substantially on the end to end centerline of the bumper. The bumper 13 is integral with the box only at the end portions 15. Otherwise the bumper is entirely free of the box and is open from top to bottom.

With the particular configuration disclosed herein, when the portion 14 is deflected inwardly as it would be by contact with the bumper on a preceding box, the portions 16 tend to curve in opposition to the flattening of the member 14 so that with an extreme shock the portion 17 in effect supports or backs up the portion 14.

From a consideration of FIGS. 2 and 4, it will be observed that the bumper members 13 extend from the top of the box about half way down the height of the box and of course they project outwardly from the end walls. Thus, when one box is nested within a like box, the bottoms of the bumpers 13 rest on top of the bumpers 13 of the lower box and limit the extent to which nesting can take place. This prevents the boxes from becoming jammed together in storage.

As will be understood, the box may be any construction and may be provided with the usual hand holds and reinforcing ribs on the underside of the bottom. These construction elements do not constitute a part of the present invention. It will be understood, therefore, that limitations not expressly set forth in the following claims are not intended and should not be implied.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A tote box adapted to be transported on a conveyor, said box having on the opposed end walls, which will be the leading and trailing walls when said box is moving on a conveyor, a bumper member of resilient mtaerial adapted to cushion the shock on such box when bumping into another box on such conv yor, said bumper member comprising a flattened sleeve element constituted by a relatively fiat convex portion extending end to end, and in opposition thereto two relatively fiat, opposite convex portions joined centrally by a sharply concave portion free of said first named convex portion, all of said portions being integral, and said bumper member being secured to said box only at the extreme ends of said sleeve element.

2. A box according to claim 1, wherein said concave portion extends across the end-to-end centerline of said bumper member toward said first named convex portion.

3. A box according to claim 1, wherein the center of curvature of said sharply concave portion lies substantially on the end-to-end centerline of said bumper.

4. A box according to claim 1, wherein said box has inwardly downwardly sloping side and end walls whereby one such box may rest in a like box when not in use, and wherein said bumper members are disposed at the upper portions of the respective walls and have a vertical extent about one half the depth of the box, said bumper members thus serving as abutments to limit the degree to which one box may nest within a like box.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,037,215 4/1936 DAndrea 29372 2,414,171 1/1947 Scharff. 2,903,124 9/1959 Carver 22097 4 3,327,896 6/1967 Asenbauer 22071 3,358,725 12/1967 Bussard et a1. 220-73 FOREIGN PATENTS 255,326 1/1927 Italy.

RAPHAEL H. SCHWARTZ, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

